"Twenty taels of silver." The sturdy man said a number and then patted the little girl on the shoulder.
"I won't sell it to you no matter how much money you offer!" The man gritted his teeth and mustered up the courage to stand in front of the girl.
"Thirty taels." The man said calmly.
"Impossible!" The man's voice finally gained strength.
"We in the Tieshui Gang abide by the rules, but if you don't want to abide by the rules with us, then there will be no rules." The sturdy man's voice gradually became colder, and he clenched his fists together, making a few dull bone sounds, showing his momentum.
The threatened man turned around suddenly, pulled out a sharp knife from his arms, and with red eyes and gritted teeth, he fought madly with the strong man in front of him.
The blade whistled, and the thug was stunned and had no time to react before the tip of the blade whistled into his chest.
With just a click, the sharp blade penetrated less than half an inch before getting stuck in the bone.
The thug then became enraged and punched the man directly in the chest, knocking him flying and causing him to fall to the ground.
Then he grabbed the screaming girl, spat at the man on the ground, his face gloomy and said nothing.
"Come to think of it, I paid 40 taels for the donkey I bought yesterday." Xi Heng, who was watching from behind, said with a sigh, "Human life is really worthless at a time like this..."
"Who?" The sturdy man carrying the girl turned around immediately and saw a woman in gray and red tights approaching.
Xi Heng held a sword, holding the scabbard in her left hand and the handle in her right hand, and walked towards five or six warriors who were much stronger than her.
"Who are you? Tell me your name!" The other party saw that Xi Heng's footwork showed that he had learned martial arts, and shouted.
"The one who killed you." She exuded murderous aura without restraint, shocking the people around her.
The opponents immediately took up their stances, and it was obvious that they had practiced sparring often.
"Are you looking down on our Tieshui Gang?!" the sturdy man asked with a sullen face.
"Iron Water Gang? Never heard of it." Xi Heng waved his left hand casually: "I was just passing by and killed a few people by the way. There is no discrimination."
After saying that, she immediately took a step forward and flew closer, and in a flash, her right hand had swiftly drawn the long sword out of its sheath.
A thin scratch was drawn between the blade and the scabbard, and the next moment a red line was drawn in the air by the tip of the sword, with a sharp sword sound in the middle -
The long sword trembled slightly as it fell back, and the red line had already cut off a head.
The round head was blown by the strong wind and fell backwards.
It hit the ground with a clatter.
Immediately, lines of blood appeared on the chests of several other thugs beside him, and the places where they were standing happened to be crossed by the red lines that Xi Heng had cut.
The girl heard the sound of people falling to the ground one by one and slowly exhaled.
She still maintained the movement after swinging the sword, closing her eyes and carefully sensing the sword.
At this moment, she finally vaguely felt the so-called sword intent in her heart.
There was indeed a sense of intention in this sword, but there was no such feeling in the previous killing on the road that was like fishing for law enforcement.
"Is this the sword intent..." Xi Heng thought silently, trying to discern this mysterious sword intent.
But the sword intent faded from her mind quickly like a thought, and she was unable to truly grasp it.
However, after sensing the sword intent, Xi Heng has gradually understood why his previous killings had little effect on improving his sword intent, but he could clearly feel it this time.
It was precisely because he had deliberately attracted attention before, attracted gangsters and chopped off their heads, which was actually an unnecessary and mechanical killing.
The sword intent is not something metaphysical and elusive. In fact, it is just a kind of idea that spontaneously appears in the mind when the sword is swung, which connects the person with the sword.
The previous killings failed to trigger a resonance of sword intent, precisely because there was no intent at all in those sword moves.
At first, it was just like setting bait when hunting, then gathering the prey together in an iron cage, and then killing them one by one with a sword.
Although he also used a sword, Xi Heng did not really put his heart into it.
Even if he acted seriously enough before killing someone, put his hands together and bowed to pray, if the words "intention" and "heart" were not there, he would not have them and could not lie.
But this time was different from the previous times. This sword was drawn out of a natural impulse to help when seeing injustice.
Just as a seed buried in wet soil will inevitably sprout green shoots, when she came here and saw this scene, she was bound to draw her sword at the enemy. It was a natural thing.
Although Xi Heng could have ignored these people and left, the moment he spoke, his sword intent had already been frozen and condensed before he drew his sword.
After swinging the sword, the thoughts in one's heart will naturally be touched, and the so-called sword intent will spontaneously manifest.
"The intention in the heart leads to the intention in the sword, so that's what it means..." After this incident, Xi Heng gradually understood something and shook his head, saying, "It turns out that the seriousness I pretended to show before was all wrong."
It doesn't matter what form the swordsmanship takes, even if you are just swinging a tattered rusty sword, even if you don't use any sword techniques, as long as your mind is focused enough, the sword intent will emerge spontaneously.
As it appears more times, it will gradually change from vague to pure.
After Xi Heng thought about it, his body, which had stopped for a few seconds, finally started moving again. He turned the long sword slightly and inserted it accurately into the scabbard in his left hand.
The sword hit the scabbard with a bang, and the scabbard was hung back on her waist. The girl didn't pause and continued to move forward.
As for the people in the rear who were saved by her sword, Xi Heng just casually listened to their repeated words of gratitude without even looking at them again.
"When the work is done, I will leave, hiding my body and name..." She recited another line of poetry, and seeing an inn with its door open in front of her, she stepped inside.
"Shopkeeper, serve some meat dishes. If you have any, bring a plate of osmanthus cake as well." Xi Heng said to the counter and found a place to sit down.
"Lady, the blown lamb bones and bamboo shoot chicken are our store's signature dishes. Together with the pastries, please give me three taels of silver." said the shopkeeper.
"Robbing money?" Xi Heng was not surprised at all. He simply pulled open the hilt of the sword and revealed the cold sword.
Originally in Jinshi City, two or three dishes cost only a little over a hundred copper coins, but now the price has increased twenty times after this person exported them.
"Don't be surprised, lady. Ever since the Tianliang Army came, the prices of vegetables and ingredients have skyrocketed every day. Copper coins are not copper coins, and silver is not silver anymore. It's not easy for our family to still run a store. Look, there are no shops on this street..." The other party explained.
Xi Heng didn't say much to him. He took out three or two pieces of money from the purse on his waist and threw them to him casually:
"Let's serve."
"Okay!" The shopkeeper's eyes lit up when he saw the silver, which was not at all like the silver he had just said was not silver.
He quickly grabbed the silver and shouted towards the kitchen.
"How much does it cost to stay in the hotel?" Xi Heng asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, our store is full today." The other party said, turned back to the counter and deposited the money.
The lobby of the inn was empty, the tables were covered in dust and no one came to clean them, but the hotel was already full...
Xi Heng thought that it was more likely that the store just didn't want to keep people overnight, perhaps because they were afraid that something might happen at night.
She didn't say anything more. After a while, the food was served and she grabbed the bowl and chopsticks.
Having not had a proper meal for a day, Xiheng wanted to fill his stomach.
When I was eating the third piece of meat, I heard a sudden footsteps coming from the store door in front of me.
When I looked up, I saw a group of detectives wearing blue uniforms and swords on their waists walking into the hallway. The sound of their footsteps was like a gavel slamming on a table.
The constable leading in the lead opened his eyes and stared, his gaze immediately locked on Xi Heng.
"You killed someone in the street?!"
"It's me." Xi Heng drank a sip of soup from a small bowl and answered easily.
She has become accustomed to almost everything these past two days. She no longer reacts to things out of surprise like she used to.
"Catch him!" the constable roared, and several people around him drew their swords and rushed towards Xi Heng.
"Let's see who dares!"
Xi Heng let out a low shout, immediately drew his sword and released his murderous power, confronting several constables who had drawn their swords and were close to him.
……
……
Testimonials
Hello everyone! This book will be available tomorrow. I am really glad that you like it. Please make more first orders.
Please, this is really important to me!! (Bow)
If you can click to subscribe automatically, thank you!
I have worked hard to write the outline of this book, and I estimate that it will be at least one million words long, and I will not stop updating! In short, there are still exciting plots waiting for you, so stay tuned!
After the Sword Academy chapter comes the Capital chapter. Capital is a prosperous place full of alcohol and sex, and the flowers are so numerous that they dazzle the eyes. There are always some intimate plots that prompt the protagonist to change his asexual mentality.
Friends who like it, please place the first order! (Pray)
In addition, please vote for recommendation, reward, and razor blades!
Because my typing speed is relatively slow and it takes time and effort to revise each chapter every other day, I won't offer a reward for additional chapters.
Finally, please place more first orders tomorrow!
If possible... please also subscribe automatically!
I hope you will continue to support me! Thank you so much!
Chapter 32: Qin Xie Long Lane
The long road has an end.
After wandering for a month, Xi Heng finally arrived at his destination - the capital of Dazhao.
Looking into the distance, there were overlapping tall buildings standing on the broad city walls in the distance, and the green and red triangular flags with the word "Zhao" written on them were waving like fireworks, and were rustling in the wind.
On the walls stood many officers and soldiers, their figures standing upright like pagodas. They all held spears and wore golden and red armor. They shone brightly under the sun, looking dazzling and solemn.
Xi Heng stood behind the crowd entering the city gate and lowered his head slightly to push down the veil on his head.
The snow-white gauze on the brim of her hat fell below her shoulders, slightly obscuring her face.
She could see that every soldier guarding the city walls was at least working hard. Before they reached the capital, they couldn't act as recklessly as they did in the small city...
On the way from Jinshi City to the capital, Xi Heng had killed many people.
Among them were mountain bandits, city bullies and thugs, and even constables chased by soldiers into the wild.
This month, she has cultivated her martial arts to the level of Ming Jin. After reaching this bottleneck, no matter how much she practices, she can hardly make any progress. She can only slowly hone her sword intent, or condense her Qi and strength, beat the Qi and blood, push open her muscles and bones, and begin to try to condense An Jin.
"The capital should be safer, so let's find a place here to try to hone our skills."
He had traveled more than a thousand miles from Jinshi City to the capital, walking and killing for a month. He couldn't even count how many hundreds or thousands of lives he had taken. His sword intent should have been refined almost to the point where it was almost there.
Now, perhaps if I just need to refine my Qi and blood to open up my tendons, bones and meridians, I will be able to achieve dark power... maybe?
Xi Heng was a little uncertain.
Although she had indeed killed many people during this period, her sword intent had never achieved a stage-by-stage improvement. Every time she swung her sword and sensed the sword intent, she always felt that something was missing.
However, although she was not sure whether she could break through the dark power, it would always be a good idea to find a safer place to try it first. In the smoky and foul environment outdoors, she had to be on guard against enemies at all times, and it was difficult for her to calm down and cultivate her internal energy and blood.
With this thought in mind, Xi Heng slowly queued in and entered the city.
At the front of the team were family members of all sizes riding in horse-drawn carriages, foreign merchants loaded with all kinds of goods, foreign officials who came to pay tribute with all kinds of treasures, or literati wearing brocade clothes with servants carrying book boxes and cages on their backs, or poor scholars who came to Beijing alone to take the imperial examinations.
Civilians in simple clothing were quite rare, and as for refugees in poor clothing, they would be driven away by the guards if they approached.
Xi Heng walked slowly with the crowd. The long wait made her a little tired. She looked at the largest and emptier imperial gate under the tall city wall.
A tall purple-gold carriage, carved with incense and jade, pulled by four large horses, was quickly entering.
Judging from the style of the carriage and the number of officers and soldiers guarding it, one can tell that the person riding in the carriage must be a high-ranking official.
Such nobles do not need to wait in line, and they do not even need to slow down when entering the city gate. They can pass through unimpeded as long as they show their badge.
Xi Heng remembered that he also rode into the city in such a purple-gold carriage in his previous life.
"Looks so miserable." She sighed and saw the team moving forward a few more steps.
Another quarter of an hour later, it was finally Xi Heng's turn to enter the city.
She had already inquired about the rules for entering the capital city, and said that she was a commoner from Jinshi City. She handed five taels of silver to the guard at the city gate, and simply stated her name and place of origin, and then she was allowed to enter the city.
After completing this simple procedure, you can easily enter.
Stepping onto the long, wide road paved with white stones in the capital again, the girl slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
